ORONO – While there are stacks of statistics on drug use in Maine, there isn’t much data about what kind of prevention information specific groups are receiving.

The planners of a new research center at the University of Maine hope to change that.

“The [drug] use is already documented,” said Liz DePoy, a UM professor and researcher for the center Friday. “There isn’t information on data people get about substance abuse in their area.”

The UM Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies received a $650,000 grant that will be distributed over the next two years to create the Prevention Center of Excellence.

Its mission: to study what is needed in Maine to prevent substance abuse and its consequences.

The project is a result of a cooperative agreement between the Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies and the state Office of Substance Abuse.

Researchers for the project want to determine what defines communities not just geographically, but as population groups.

“Part of what we want to do is look at what are the kinds of messages that the kids on the islands off the coast of Maine receive,” said Stephen Gilson, principal investigator and professor of interdisciplinary disability studies. “How do they compare to kids who might be living on a reservation?”

In addition, the research will be used to determine which prevention programs are needed in specific communities, such as the western mountains or urban locations versus rural towns.

“The first year, we’re going to do several things,” Gilson said. “We’re going to do a needs assessment throughout Maine in different adolescent communities to find out about the degree, if there is a degree, of substance abuse.”

During the first year, researchers intend to create stakeholder advisory groups, made up of adolescents, service providers, teachers and other community members to help guide and focus future research.

Using data collected from advisory groups, the center will identify communities in Maine that are underserved by existing substance abuse prevention programs and will provide the information necessary to craft prevention strategies relevant to these communities.

“Another agenda is universal access to information and prevention,” DePoy said. “Our interest is in everyone, regardless of circumstance, having access to prevention [resources].”

All results of the center’s research will be published in a variety of formats.

“Because it’s funded by

taxpayers, people have a right to have access to that information,” Gilson said, noting that part of the purpose of the work by the Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies is to prompt social change.

“If we don’t communicate the findings or results in a manner that all people can access them, then we’re not really doing our job,” he said.

The UM center also will collaborate with a new and similar prevention center at the University of Southern Maine.

The focus at the USM center will be on work force development, but the two campuses intend to collaborate and share information.

“We haven’t really worked yet with them, but we’re excited to work with them,” DePoy said.

The cooperation between the two will be discussed at a meeting later this week, Gilson said.